Checkout the newly released version of Campcaster, a free and open source radio management software, which can be used for community radios. Learn more about its functionalities and how to download it.

January 2007 marks the release date of the newly improved version of Campcaster—the Campcaster 1.2.0-Beta. Campcaster is the first free and open source radio management software that provides both live studio broadcast and remote automation capabilities in one integrated system, useful for both large and small stations in the following ways:
- provides a free and open source solution for radio broadcast management;
- allows remote control of radio stations through the internet; and
- offers support for combined local broadcasts with centralised news and programmes.

One of the important features of Campcaster is its multilinguality. It is currently available in nine languages, and is easy to localise into additional languages. Furthermore, it runs only on Linux, a free operating system, which allows for easy porting of Campcaster to different operating systems in the future.

Among its current users is the West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR). WADR, based in Dakar, Senegal, is a radio station committed to facilitate the exchange of development information as well as to promote and defend the ideals of democratic and open societies between and among countries of West Africa. WADR aims to promote peace and human security, transparency and accountability in governance, freedom of expression, and social and cultural development amongst the peoples of the region.

“With Campcaster, democratisation is occurring on several levels—in front of the microphone, in your headphones, and up at the head end,” said Douglas Arellanes, Campcaster's head of research and development. “The listener gets the benefit of better programs that are potentially drawing from more diverse sources as well as being delivered in a number of ways. [And] the broadcaster gets the benefit of having lots of functionality they could not afford in the past, as well as being able to network their station with others,” added Arellanes.

Campcaster is part of the Campware initiative of the Media Development Loan Fund in its aim to provide open source solutions for independent news media organisations. Two solutions that emerged from the Campware initiative are the Campcaster, a free and open source, end-to-end solution for managing a radio station by using standard personal computers and the Campsite, a web publishing system to facilitate online publishing of newspapers or magazines.

To learn more about Campcaster, visit <http://www.campware.org/>.

Sources:
“Campcaster 1.2.0-Beta Released” from Campware, posted on January 31, 2007, <http://www.campware.org/en/camp/campcaster_news/710/>.
“Interview With Campcaster Douglas Arellanes” from NewAssignment.Net, posted on February 1, 2007, <http://www.newassignment.net/blog/bess_kargman/feb2007/01/interview_with_c>.
“West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR): Promoting Dialogue” from Open Society Initiative for West Africa, <http://www.osiwa.org/en/programs/special/radio>.